The international textile industry is allegedly poisoning China's rivers and its people.
Greenpeace explained, in a report they released on Tuesday (December 4), how they took samples earlier this year from black water pumped out of two of China's biggest communal wastewater treatment plants.
Tests showed both treatment plants contained toxic chemicals, some of them cancer-causing, which were being pumped directly into the Qiantang river.
Local farmers who have watched the industrial complex grow beside their villages fear the chemicals in the water system are damaging their health, and the health of future generations.
Greenpeace said the dyeing and printing of fabrics produce a majority of the wastewater from the industrial area.
Water pollution is so bad in the area that some communities now rely on the local government to deliver drinking water rather than consuming the tap water.
Greenpeace feels both the government and brands manufactured in China need to take responsibility for the industry's pollution.